Chicago Amends Rules for ‘Fair Workweek Ordinance’

The Details

The City of Chicago has updated the rules for its Fair Workweek Ordinance. The updated rules take effect June 1, 2026. They clarify and define various aspects of the ordinance, including scheduling requirements, predictability pay, advance notice, offering extra hours, and more.

Background

The Fair Workweek Ordinance requires certain employers to provide workers with predictable work schedules and compensation for changes to their schedules. 

Employees are covered by the ordinance if they:

·      Work in Building Services, Health Care, Hotels, Manufacturing, Restaurants, Retail, and Warehouse Services,

·      Earn $32.60/hour or less or $62,561.90/year or less (these figures are adjusted annually for inflation), and

·      The employer has at least 100 employees globally (250 employees and 30 locations for a restaurant) and at least 50 covered employees.

Covered employees are entitled to:

• Advance notice of their work schedule.
• The right to decline previously unscheduled hours.

·       Predictability pay for employer-imposed changes made after the required advance notice period, including (among other scenarios) adding or subtracting more than 15 minutes of scheduled time, adding hours to a shift, or changing a shift’s date or time (even without a change in total hours).

• Rest by declining work hours less than 10 hours after the end of the previous day’s shift.

New Rules

Employer Size Determination

The new rules state that to calculate an employer’s size, the city will count the average number of global employees during a 12-month period (for an existing employer) or a 90-day period (for a new employer).

To calculate the number of covered employees, the city will count the average number of covered employees during a 12-month period (for an existing employer) or a 90-day period (for a new employer).

When the average headcount isn’t a whole number, the city will round down. In the restaurant industry, global locations may be aggregated across a “unitary business group.”

Initial Estimate of Work Schedules

The new rules make clear that a good-faith estimate of the covered employee’s work schedule at the time of hire must contain the following information:

·      The estimated number of hours the covered employee will work each week;

·      The days of the week the covered employee should expect to work;

·      The time, times or shifts the covered employee should expect to work;

·      The location(s) the covered employee should expect to work; and

·      Whether the covered employee should expect to work any on-call shifts.

Work Schedules

Under the new rules, work schedules must be time-stamped with their date and time of posting. They must also clearly indicate the:

·      Start and end dates of the week (defined as seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin on any day of the week and any hour of the day).

·      Schedule of hours, days, times, and location(s) that covered employees are scheduled to work, including on-call shifts.

·      Names of all covered employees who work at a location, regardless of whether they are scheduled to work that week.

The names of covered employees on the work schedule must include at least their first initial and full last name.

The new rules define an on-call shift as one where an employer requires a covered employee to either contact the employer or wait to be contacted by the employer less than 24 hours in advance of the start of the shift, to learn whether the covered employee is required to

report to work for the shift.

Predictability Pay

The new rules specify that predictability pay must be:

·      Paid no later than the next payday; and

·      Noted separately on a wage stub or other form of written documentation and provided to the employee.

The new rules clarify that no predictability pay is required when adding or subtracting hours based on voluntary employee-requested changes, including use of paid leave/paid sick leave/PTO/vacation and mutually agreed shift trades, but the request must be in writing.

Offering Extra Hours

The new rules require employers to provide a written notice of the offer of additional shifts to existing covered employees. The notice must contain the following information for each shift offered:

·      Location;

·      Start and end time;

·      Whether the shift is temporary or recurring. If temporary, the notice must state the specific dates for which coverage is needed;

·      Required qualifications for the position and what training, if any, will be provided; and

·      The process by which employees must notify the employer of their acceptance of the additional shifts, including a deadline containing the date and time by which the offer must be accepted.

The new rules also clarify the priority order for distributing additional hours before hiring outside the organization:

·      First: Qualified covered employees at the workplace where hours are available must be offered the hours first

·      Second: If employees are regularly scheduled across locations, covered employees at other locations

·      Third: Temporary and seasonal workers who worked at least two weeks for the employer in the previous 12 months

Employers must use reasonable judgment and good faith in determining qualifications and shouldn’t require training beyond what a new hire would receive.

Right to Rest

Under both the outgoing and new rules, an employee may voluntarily consent to work a shift that starts less than 10 hours after the end of their prior shift, provided they give such consent in writing. The updated rules state that the written voluntary consent may be situational or ongoing. The employee is entitled to revoke the consent at any time.

An employer must still provide rest pay (at 1.25 times the employee’s regular rate of pay), regardless of whether the employee requested or consented to work shifts separated by less than 10 hours.

Rest pay must be:

·      Paid no later than the next payday; and

·      Noted separately on a wage stub or other form of written documentation and provided to the employee.

Employer Notices

The initial notice that employers must provide new hires may be provided prior to the commencement of a job or as part of an onboarding process.

All notices must be posted in English. The new rules clarify that employers must also request and post notices in the languages understood by 5% or more of its workers who aren’t literate in English at a jobsite.

Recordkeeping

The new rules clarify and expand the broad list of records employers must retain for at least three years, including:

·      Whether the employee receives tips or performs the duties of both tipped and non-tipped positions

·      Termination date

Next steps

Covered employers should:

·      Review the rules in full

·      Update scheduling and posting practices as necessary

·      Document their processes for offering additional hours

·      Audit recordkeeping practices for compliance